Edinburgh, Lothians & Borders area of British Divers Marine Life Rescue recently received a grant from North Berwick Trust to purchase a life-size Whale model to be used in all their training sessions in North Berwick. Area Coordinator Corinne Gordon says, “we are extremely grateful to the Trust for the grant awarded this year. Our volunteer area marine mammal medics are called out 24/7, 365 days per year to rescue injured and abandoned seal pups in this area, along with strandings of Porpoises, Dolphins and Whales. Having this whale model means we can carry out training sessions throughout the year with our medics and educate the local public on what to do if they find a stranded marine mammal on the beach. With our pontoons and the whale model we carry out training of new and existing medics to ensure that cetaceans are given first aid, restoring equilibrium and keeping the animal wet prior to being refloated on an incoming tide. Using this essential equipment means all our team are ready to act to save our amazing marine wildlife living in our coastal waters”.
This regional team carries out fundraising throughout the year to enable the purchase of not only lifesaving equipment for medics and marine mammals but also seal bags and kennels to safely transport injured seal pups off the beach where they are taken to rehab to begin their journey back to good health prior to being released back into the wild. The whale model is very expensive and BDMLR are very grateful to North Berwick Trust for this grant to support the work of our regional team. Vice-Chair of North Berwick Trust, Dr Libby Morris says, “The Trust funds a variety of local projects in the town. We recognised the number of stranded cetaceans on our beaches and could see the value in this project, both in caring for marine mammals and educating our community on what to do”.
For more information on the work of the BDMLR, please visit their website www.bdmlr.org.uk.